Saturday’s Gun Buyback Brings Together Unlikely Allies

District Attorney Jeff Rosen, left, and San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos posed for pictures at an event last month to raise money for the gun buyback. (Photo via Amy Nilson, via Examiner.com)

Gun owners could trade their weapons for holiday shopping money at San Jose's upcoming gun buyback, while police can take illegal firearms off the streets—no questions asked.

The Dec. 13 event has brought together some unlikely co-sponsors, namely Councilman Xavier Campos and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. Last year, Campos invoked the Fifth Amendment at a grand jury hearing to avoid answering questions about George Shirakawa Jr.'s alleged involvement in a political mail fraud scandal. In a subsequent interview Campos said he refused to answer questions because he does not trust the DA's office.

Also helping organize the buyback: Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), county Supervisor Cindy Chavez and the San Jose Police Foundation.

Police will check each gun collected to see if it was lost or stolen. If lost, it will be returned to its registered owner. Other firearms will be destroyed.

People who turn in a gun get a gift card: $100 for handguns, rifles and shotguns, and $200 for assault weapons. Guns must be unloaded and packed in the car trunk. No walk-ups, no ammo. Weapons also have to be functional.

The police foundation raised money for the buyback, the second hosted by Campos' District 5 office after a 12-year break. The event was revived last year, when police collected 463 guns, more than twice what Oakland and San Francisco culled at similar events, and shelled out $46,000 in Target gift cards.

Let me tell you when these guns are bought back and it’s handled through a gun dealer, unless the right thing is done “Destroy Them with a video record” you will find the valuable one’s go missing and down the line they will show up in crimes elsewhere. Happens all the time and buy back is a myth.

FBI “Spread across tables or piled high into overflowing stacks, all those weapons reinforce the notion that trading cash for guns works. It gets guns off the street, organizers say, and makes the city safer.The problem, according to years of research, is that it does neither.”